Academy
2. Anatomy of a Mission
Learn what a mission is — goal, plan, work rounds, cost, verdict and deliverables — and how to write a goal that sets @oupi up for success.
A mission is the fundamental unit of work you hand to @oupi. It starts with a single goal — "prepare a two-page briefing on X", "clean this spreadsheet and chart revenue by region" — and ends with a delivery. In between, @oupi builds a plan, executes it over a bounded number of work rounds using the right tools (search, documents, data, integrations, browser, sandbox), then verifies the outcome before handing it to you.
Every mission carries five key elements you can inspect on its mission page: • Plan – the steps @oupi chose to reach your goal. • Work rounds – the iterative execution; bounded, so a mission can never run forever. • Cost – credits proportional to the work done, shown after completion. • Verdict – verified, failed, or could not be verified. • Deliverables – files stored in a Studio folder linked to the mission.
All your missions are listed in the Assistant cockpit.
The verification verdict is your quality signal. After every mission, @oupi runs a verification pass that compares the result against your original goal and returns one of three outcomes:
• Verified – the result matches the goal. • Failed – something went wrong; review the details on the mission page. • Could not be verified – the checker couldn't read the output (e.g., a binary file or an external action). This is not a failure; it simply means you should check the result yourself.
Always read the verdict on the mission page before using or sharing the deliverable.
Writing a good goal is the single biggest lever on mission quality and cost. @oupi plans better from a clear destination than from a long list of steps — it decides the steps itself.
A strong goal answers four questions:
- What do you want? (a document, a table, a message, a chart…)
- For whom? (your team, a client, yourself…)
- In which form? (two-page PDF, spreadsheet with one tab per region…)
- Any hard constraints? (deadline, sources to use, things to avoid.)
Keep it concise. If something essential is missing, @oupi will ask you a clarification question — one question or a short series — rather than guessing. Your answers are saved with the mission. If you'd rather it proceed with reasonable assumptions, just say so.
Clear goals save credits. A short, well-briefed mission costs a few dozen credits; a sprawling, vague one costs more because @oupi needs more rounds and tokens to figure out what you want. State the outcome, set a sensible scope, and let @oupi handle the steps.
Missions don't have to be one-shot. From the mission page, you can reply to @oupi after it finishes — "shorten it to one page", "add the 2025 figures", "same for Germany". This starts a follow-up mission that inherits the parent's goal and outcome as context, so you refine instead of starting from scratch.
If a mission needs your input mid-flight, it appears in To decide — the list of missions waiting for a clarification answer or an approval. From there you can also snooze a mission to revisit later, or cancel it outright. Nothing is sent or published on your behalf while a mission sits in To decide.
Deliverables — documents, spreadsheets, presentations, code — land in your Studio in a folder tied to the mission. They also stay accessible from the mission page itself. If you set up a recurring mission via wake-ups (scheduled tasks or event-driven watchers), the deliverables accumulate in a durable folder and can optionally be emailed to you after each run.
@oupi picks the right tools for each mission from everything connected to your account: knowledge bases, web search, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, MCP servers, and more. It will also tell you when a useful integration isn't connected yet.
Open the Assistant and go to Missions. Pick a real task — for example, "Summarize the key points of [a document in your Studio] in a one-page memo for my team." Submit it, watch the plan form, and when it finishes, read the verification verdict and check the deliverable in Studio.
A mission is goal → plan → work rounds → verification → delivery. Write goals that state the outcome, audience, format, and constraints — let @oupi choose the steps. Every mission shows its cost in credits and ends with a verdict (verified, failed, or could not be verified). Deliverables go to Studio. Use To decide to answer clarifications or approve results, and reply from the mission page to refine without losing context.